Early experience led to Middletown sweet shop dreams
Middletown, NJ – While in high school and working for a candy store, I considered becoming a CPA. I took a full-time job my senior year with a finance company, but continued part-time at the candy store. I decided during that year that I really didn’t want to be a CPA; my passion was definitely the candy store.
It was at the candy store that I met my husband, and he shared my vision of one day owning my own business. After we married and had two children, I continued to work.
As a hobby, I made my own candy in our kitchen to give as gifts for friends, family and for my mother’s clients (she had her own business). One Easter, my husband decided to take a basket full of my candy to work to sell and hopefully make a few extra dollars. I was ecstatic when he came home that night with an empty basket and enough money for our children’s first swing set.
In the next few years we opened our first candy store, which was a franchise operation. In order to open the business, I went to the bank for a loan. After initially being told it wouldn’t be a problem, the bank turned down our application. So, my husband and I used our credit cards and took a loan on his 401(k) to help come up with the necessary cash to open our store in Middletown. When our franchise term was up, we decided to venture out on our own as Suzi’s Sweet Shoppe.
